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A review by libellus
Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel
3.0
The apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by #2 Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel
October 2015
3/5
*I read the French translation “L’apprentissage de Victor Frankenstein #2 Un vil dessein”*
Translations ruin everything. Do not read the translation of a book if you can read it in its original language, kids. The writing style will feel awkward and like something is off, and the reading experience will seriously be affected by it. Also I hate sentences like this ‘Victor thought what Elizabeth said was wrong but he couldn’t help but wonder if what she said was actually the truth.” You know what I’m talking about, a character that doesn’t really know anything about his feelings and can’t get their shit together. I guess I can’t say anything about the writing style because of that reason but I can say that the atmosphere was still really great. A+ for chills and mystery and suspense. It’s not scary but it’s thrilling, kind of like watching a Criminal Minds episode: you know you’re safe under your little blanket, but the adventure still makes your blood pump way faster than usual. For the characters I have very mixed feelings about them. Victor was interesting because of his anti-hero personality. He was so selfish, so greedy for power, so arrogant and sometimes it got on my nerves a lot. I do love a good anti-hero story but I feel like this was overdone. The other characters I feel like there was no real progression from the first book. They still stayed exactly the same except with more grief. Especially Elizabeth, I mean her fiancé died because of alchemy but she is convinced to do occultism without too much arguing to try to bring him back which totally defies her religion, she accuses Victor of trying to play God but she is doing the exact same thing. I found that just a bit hypocrite. Another big turn off for me was the whole love-square (?) thing. Like c’mon 3 guys crushing on one girl all trying to win her over. This jealousy created unrealistic moments all through the book and it was predictable and not that interesting. I think I liked the plot of the first one better, but it is still enjoyable. Maybe the mud baby was a bit too farfetched for me. There was a lot of foreshadowing just like in the first one which added to the thrill of it, always trying to guess what this or this could mean in the next chapters. Overall good series, but there are better ones in this genre.
October 2015
3/5
*I read the French translation “L’apprentissage de Victor Frankenstein #2 Un vil dessein”*
Translations ruin everything. Do not read the translation of a book if you can read it in its original language, kids. The writing style will feel awkward and like something is off, and the reading experience will seriously be affected by it. Also I hate sentences like this ‘Victor thought what Elizabeth said was wrong but he couldn’t help but wonder if what she said was actually the truth.” You know what I’m talking about, a character that doesn’t really know anything about his feelings and can’t get their shit together. I guess I can’t say anything about the writing style because of that reason but I can say that the atmosphere was still really great. A+ for chills and mystery and suspense. It’s not scary but it’s thrilling, kind of like watching a Criminal Minds episode: you know you’re safe under your little blanket, but the adventure still makes your blood pump way faster than usual. For the characters I have very mixed feelings about them. Victor was interesting because of his anti-hero personality. He was so selfish, so greedy for power, so arrogant and sometimes it got on my nerves a lot. I do love a good anti-hero story but I feel like this was overdone. The other characters I feel like there was no real progression from the first book. They still stayed exactly the same except with more grief. Especially Elizabeth, I mean her fiancé died because of alchemy but she is convinced to do occultism without too much arguing to try to bring him back which totally defies her religion, she accuses Victor of trying to play God but she is doing the exact same thing. I found that just a bit hypocrite. Another big turn off for me was the whole love-square (?) thing. Like c’mon 3 guys crushing on one girl all trying to win her over. This jealousy created unrealistic moments all through the book and it was predictable and not that interesting. I think I liked the plot of the first one better, but it is still enjoyable. Maybe the mud baby was a bit too farfetched for me. There was a lot of foreshadowing just like in the first one which added to the thrill of it, always trying to guess what this or this could mean in the next chapters. Overall good series, but there are better ones in this genre.